ŽDANOKA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT 21 applicant was free to stand as a candidate in the elections to the European Parliament, to which she was in fact subsequently elected. The Government argued that, as a supranational legislature, the European Parliament ought to be considered a “higher” legislative body than the Latvian parliament, and that “the applicant will be able to exercise her ‘passive’ electoral rights effectively at an even higher level than that foreseen at the outset”. 66. The Government acknowledged that no amendments had so far been made to the laws on parliamentary and municipal elections. The disputed restriction therefore remained in force and the applicant was still disqualified from standing for Parliament and for municipal councils. However, they did not consider that this fact was material to the outcome of the case. Latvia’s accession to the European Union in spring 2004 marked the culmination of the transitional period, that is, the country’s journey from a totalitarian to a democratic society, and the members of parliament had been aware of this. Furthermore, the periodic review of the disputed provisions constituted a stable parliamentary practice (see paragraph 61 above) and the restrictions complained of by the applicant were provisional in nature. 67. For the above reasons, the Government considered that the dispute at the origin of the present case had been resolved, and that the application should be struck out of the list in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (b) of the Convention. 68. The applicant disagreed. She acknowledged that she was entitled to stand in the European elections and had done so. However, this fact did not resolve the dispute in that the restrictions contained in the laws on parliamentary and local elections were still in force and that it was by no means certain that they would be repealed in the near future. 69. In the Court’s view, the question posed by the Government’s pleadings is whether the applicant has in fact lost her status as “victim” within the meaning of Article 34 of the Convention. In that connection, the Court refers to its settled case-law to the effect that a decision or measure favourable to an applicant is not in principle sufficient to deprive him or her of victim status unless the national authorities have acknowledged, either expressly or in substance, and then afforded redress for, the breach of the Convention (see, for example, Amuur v. France, 25 June 1996, § 36, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-III; Dalban v. Romania [GC], no. 28114/95, § 44, ECHR 1999-VI; Labita v. Italy [GC], no. 26772/95, § 142, ECHR 2000-IV; and Ilaşcu and Others v. Moldova and Russia (dec.) [GC], no. 48787/99, 4 July 2001). In the present case, the impugned legislative provisions remain in force, and the applicant is still disqualified from standing for the national parliament (and for municipal councils). 70. In so far as the Government refer to the fact that the applicant was entitled to take part in the European Parliament elections, the Court recognises that Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 is applicable in this respect (see